What We Offer
Thermometer Lab
Storm Experience
Storm Experience is a fun and exciting 3-credit UND course where you will learn how to forecast and safely observe severe thunderstorms. You'll be taught and trained by Professor Gilmore and two experienced teaching assistants. We'll have class at a hotel conference room and in the class van. You'll visually document these storms using your camera and keep track of storm characteristics in your notebook. You'll pick your favorite storm to document in a written class report.
Weather Balloon Launches
Weather balloon carry aloft an instrument package that provides measurements of atmospheric conditions. These measurements are made twice daily at National Weather Service locations across the country and are used in weather forecast models and severe weather forecasting. You will learn how to launch and track these balloons as part of their coursework.
Doppler Weather Radar
UND operates a dual-polarization Doppler weather radar (NorthPol) for educational and research purposes. The radar system is used to track severe weather events in eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota. The Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere (ATSC 345) and Radar Meteorology (ATSC 441) courses cover and discuss the principles of radar remote sensing and interpretation of radar data. You can learn how to run the UND NorthPol radar as part of these classes.
Cutting-Edge Research
Department of Atmospheric Sciences faculty are actively performing research for a variety of government agencies and private companies. Undergraduate students are hired to help with data analysis and other research tasks on these research grants. This will give you a chance to learn how research is conducted and whether a career path in research would be right for you.
Faculty Research Areas
- Mark Askelson: UAS, radar meteorology
- David Delene: aerosol-cloud interactions, weather modification, precipitation microphysics
- Andrew Detwiler (adjunct): atmospheric electricity, cloud and aerosol physics
- Cathy Finley: severe storms, tornadoes, wind energy
- Matthew Gilmore: precipitation physics, tornadoes, lightning, cloud modeling
- Aaron Kennedy: winter weather, extreme events
- Bruce Lee: supercell thunderstorms, tornadoes
- Jared Marquis: radar
- Jianglong Zhang: aerosols and clouds, radiation and remote sensing, data assimilation, climate and agriculture
Graduate Assistantships
Graduate assistantships are available on a competitive basis to qualified graduate students in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences. These assistantships provide an employment opportunity for students to help defray the costs of education and provide work experience within the field. These assistantship positions are also generally accompanied by tuition waiver support. Assistantships may be awarded for teaching (GTA) or research (GRA) activities. GRAs are provided by faculty through external grant funds that support the faculty member's research. The work performed under a GRA may or may not be aligned with the thesis topic of the student, depending on the match between the student's interest and her/his advisor's needs. Additional information regarding graduate assistantships may be found at the School of Graduate Studies.
Available teaching and research assistantships are listed on our employment page.